The Benefits of Renewable Energy

Renewable energy offers many social, environmental, and economic benefits to all Canadians. Resources such as wind and solar energy provide consumers with the opportunity to increase local control of energy production and help ensure stable prices and supply security. Improving air and water quality, decreasing soil degradation and deforestation, and reducing our impact on the climate system while boosting social development and the economy through education/training and job creation are just some of the benefits associated with renewable energy resources that no other energy industry currently provides.

Environmental:

Renewable energy systems produce very little to no greenhouse gas emissions while in operation and only small amounts are produced during the manufacturing of these systems. This promotes a decreased dependency on non-renewable energy systems that exacerbate our environmental problems. Air and water pollutants, wastes and land/marine disruption from renewable energy systems development and operation is very little to none; systems are purposely designed and located to serve human needs and compliment the surrounding environment. To accomplish this, renewable energy production techniques apply environmental science, chemistry, electronics and monitoring systems which analyse and preserve the natural environment while promoting sustainable development of it's resources and curbing the negative effects of human activity. Preservation and sustainability is the core of renewable energy systems.

Social:

Increasing development of renewable energy systems puts control of energy production and use into the hands of families, small businesses, communities, and local industries, making them owners and managers of their energy future. Using current technology it's possible for any building to have a net-zero energy demand, meaning that on an annual basis the amount of energy consumed therein is equal to or less than the amount of clean energy produced in that location. This energy independence could yield long term cost savings to consumers and relieve demand on finite energy sources, which would help to stabilize energy costs all around.

Economic:

Localized use of renewable energy systems is a potential nation wide job creator in research and development, manufacturing, and more. This provides a more equitable employment environment and one that's permanent, not cyclical. According to the World Watch Institute's report on Renewables 2005, more than 1.7 million direct jobs alone were created worldwide from renewable energy investment in 2004. Pembina Institute states that the "employment created from low impact renewable energy would be comparable to or greater than that created by an equivalent capacity of fossil fuel energy."

The cost of renewable energy is related mostly to the repayment of invested capital and is not dependant on the fluctuating and increasing cost of a finite energy source such as uranium and fossil fuels. Because renewables have low environmental and health impacts, future financial liabilities are also eliminated. This is important given the volatile crude oil prices and instability of prices in the natural gas and deregulated electricity markets. Many governments and business are therefore increasing the fraction of energy they purchase from renewable sources not only as a socially responsible gesture but as a hedge against high energy prices. Not only do high fossil fuel prices directly affect the consumer's finances, but they also directly affect goods and services provided by fossil fuels, and indirectly affect transport, manufacturing and heating. High fossil fuel costs stifle the growth of the economy through their effect on the supply and demand of goods other than fossil fuels. Supply of other goods is depressed because production costs increase. Demand is also driven down because higher costs reduce wealth and produce market uncertainty.

Security:

Maximizing renewable energy on a regional and national level will decrease our dependence on imported fuels, goods, and services. This benefits domestic energy security and reduces price volatility. Distributed power generation systems and flexible local grids can be community owned and operated, linking with other grids when required. This gives a degree of reliability, security and accountability that centralized conventional energy grids don't offer. Energy from fossil fuels and nuclear power will always require central management and large distribution infrastructures that are overwhelmingly controlled by just a few multinational corporations.

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